St. Landry democrat., 1887-10-22

as any style of alcoholism is pleasant to
your taste, and stimulating to your
nerves, and for time delightful to all
your physical and mental constitution,
is the peril awful. Remember Jonathan
and the forbidden honey in the woods of
Beth-aven.
Furthermore, the gamester's indulgence
must be put in the list of temptations,
delicious but destructive. ! have crossed
the ocean eight times, and always one Of
the best rooms has, from morning till
late at night, been given up to gambling
practices. | heard of many men who
went on board with enough money for a
European excursion who landed without
enough money to get their baggage up
to the hotel or railroad station. To
many, there is a complete fascination in
games of hazard or the risking of
money on possibilities. 1t seems as
natural for them to bet as to eat. Indeed
the hunger for food is often overpowtred
with the hunger for wagerS, as in the case
of Lord Sandwich, persistent gambler,
who not being willing to leave the dice
table long enough for the taking of food,
invented preparation Of food that he
could take without stopping the game !;
namely, slice of beef between two slices
of bread, which was named after
Lord Sandwich 1t is absurd for
those OF us who have never felt
the fascination of the wager to speak
slightingly of the temptation. 1t has
slain a multitude of intellectual and
moral giants, men and women stronger
than YOU or |. Down under its power
went glorious Oliver Goldsmith, and
(iLlnr IVA hirta onl ('horlnS Env
the statesman, and in olden times famous
who used to be as regularly
at the gambling house all night
as they were in The halls of legislation by
day. Oh, the tragedies of the faro table.
| know persons who began with slight
stake in a ladies' parlor, and ended with
the suicides pistol at Monte Carlo. They
played with the square pieces Of bone
with black marks on them, not knowing
that Satan was playing for their bones at
the same time, and was sure to sweep
all the stakes off on his side OF the
table The last New York Legislature
sanctioned the mighty evil last spring by
passing law for its defense at the race
tracks, and many young men IN these
cities lost all their wages at Coney Island
this summer, and this fall are borrowing
from the money-tills of their employers
or arranging by means of false entry to
adjust their demoraliZed finances. Every
man who voted for the Ives pool bill has
on his hands and forehead the blood of
these souls.
But in this connection some young con-
verts say to me: rs it right to play
cards, Is there any harm in game of
whist or euchre ?" Well, know good
men who play whist, and euchre, and
other styles Of game without any
wagers. | had friend who played cards
with his wife and children, and then at
the close said: Come, now, let us have
prayers" l will not judge other mems
consciences, but | tell you that cards
are in my mind so associated with
the temporal and eternal damnation
of splendid young men that | should no
sooner say to my family: Come, let
us have game of cards. than | would
go into menagerie and say: Come,
let us have a game of rattlesnakes," or
into a cemetery, and sitting down by a
marble slab say to the gravediggers:
Come, let us have a game Of skulls"
Conscientious young ladies are silently
saying to me while l speak: DO you
think card playing will do US any
HARM Perhaps not, but how will
you feel if in the great day
of eternity, when we are asked
to give an account of our influence,
some man shall say to you: 81 was in
to games of chance in the year
1887, in Brooklyn, at your house, and
went on from that sport to something
more exciting, and went on down until
lost my business, and lost my morals,
and lost my soul, and these chains that
you see on my wrists and feet are the
chains of a gamester's doom, and | am
on my way to a gamblers hell" Honey
at the start, eternal catastrophe at the
last.
Stock gambling comes into the same
catalogue. 1t must be very exhilarating
to go into Wall street, New York, or
State street, Boston or Third street, Phila-
ielphia, and depositing a small sum of |
money, run the risk of taking out for
tune. Many men are doing an honest |
and safe business in the stock market, |
and you are an ignoramus if you do not |
know that it is just as legitimate to deal |
IN stocks as to deal in coffee, or sugar, or !
-four. But nearly all the outsiders
who go there on little financial ex-
;ursion lose all. The old spiders eat up
he unsuspecting flies. | had a friend
who put his hand on his hip pocket and
said to me in substance: Il have there
he value of hundred and fifty thousand
dollars" His home is to-day penniless.
W hat was the matter? Wall street. OF .
he vast majority who are victimized you
near not one word. One great stock
irm goes down, and whole columns of
discuss their fraud or their
disaster, and we are presented with their
features and biography. But where
me such famous firm sinks, five
hundred unknown men sink with
hem. The great steamer goes down,
md all the little boats are swallowed in
he same engulfment. Gambling is
whether in stocks or bread
tufts, or dice or race-track betting
1xhilaration at the start, and raving
,rain and a shattered nervous system,
md sacrificed property, and destroyed
oul at the last. Young man, buy no
ottery tickets, purchase no prize pack
gees, bet on no baseball games or yacht
acing, have no faith in luck, answer no
Mysterious circulars proposing great
ncome for small investments, shoe
way the buzzards that hover around
ur hotels trying to entrap strangers.
10 out and make an honest living
lave God on your side and be a candi-
ate for Heaven. Remember all the
'aths of sin are banked with flowers at